The Power of Thank You
by the Azbaban Dreamer
Summary: It's Valentine's Day and Scorpius Malfoy didn't expect any Valentine's cards until he finds one on his pillow. Cursed Child compliant.


Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling.

* * *

Valentine's Day dawned, bringing heavy rain to Hogwarts. The grounds turned sodden and it became difficult to traverse though them, Meanwhile, there was a flurry of activity at breakfast that morning as various students made their way across the Great Hall to deliver Valentine cards and ask their crushes out. Two students, however remained seated.

As a First year, Scorpius Malfoy never expected that he would receive any Valentines because he was deeply unpopular and the rumoured _'Son of Voldemort'_. Not even his crush, the brilliant Rose Granger-Weasley paid him any attention. His only friend, Albus Potter the _'Slytherin Squib'_ who was currently sitting next to him and was moodily stabbing his bacon with his fork.

"Look on the bright side, Albus," Scorpius said cheerfully. "Everyone will be so busy with Valentine's Day, that they'll forget about us."

"Small comfort," Albus muttered. "I'm already used to being ignored. It won't make much difference to me."

"Cheer up," Scorpius smiled. "It's Charms today. You can show Professor Flitwick how well you've practised." Although he didn't smile, Albus looked slightly more cheerful at this and stopped stabbing his bacon.

Albus performed really well in Charms, successfully unlocking his box. It cheered him up a great deal and it was a good thing that he did well in Charms, because he was terrible in Transfiguration, failing to transfigure his pebbles into thimbles, making him incredibly frustrated.

He was the only one who was assigned extra homework at the end of the lesson and he looked miserable as they walked to History of Magic where he sat brooding about his poor performance and refusing to do any work, so Scorpius had to take his notes for him. He also performed poorly in the rest of his lessons and decided to go to bed earlier that night. By the time Scorpius went to bed, he was fast asleep.

Scorpius began his routine of getting his pyjamas on and brushing his teeth when he spotted the pale pink envelope on his pillow. Scorpius frowned.

Who would be sending him a card? No one likes him in this school apart from Albus and Albus had no interest in Valentine's Day whatsoever.

Perhaps it was a prank being played on him by one of the Slytherins who didn't like him or maybe the fierce Rose Granger-Weasley had come to her senses and decided to send him a card.

The mystery of who sent him this card was slowly getting to him. He ripped open the envelope and took out his first Valentine's Day card that had a picture of a yellow rose on it and opened it up.

_To Scorpius_

_Happy Valentine's Day_

_From Albus _

Scorpius was deeply touched and felt a warmth blooming in the pit of his stomach. Even though the message was short, it meant a lot to him that Albus had bothered to give him this card. He was also suddenly aware that he was smiling.

"Albus," Scorpius whispered excitedly as he bounded over to Albus's bed. Albus woke with a start and sat up, his jet-black hair looking all messy as he looked around at Scorpius. "A card! You sent me a card. You sent me a Valentine's Day card. A card for me, you thought of _me_!"

"Oh, yeah," Albus muttered, his cheeks turning slightly pink. "I'd forgotten about that."

"I didn't expect you to give me one," Scorpius said. "Most people usually get them for people that they, Umm."

Scorpius put the card down and started fiddling with his pyjama sleeves feeling rather awkward all of a sudden. "You know… _Lurve_. Do you _lurve _me, Albus?"

Albus's face turned bright red.

"No!" He said looking mortified. "It's not like that."

"This day is usually reserved for couples," Scorpius said thoughtfully. "My Dad usually buys my Mum a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of Wine. Mum once let me try some and it was absolutely_ horrible_! I hope you haven't got me a bottle of Wine. Well, how could you? You're eleven. Eleven-Years-old and sending Valentines. Should I send you a Valentine? I completely forgot about you. Do best friends send each other Valentines? It does seem rather odd. Do you think-"

"Scorpius, please!" Albus sounded desperate and Scorpius stopped his rambling to see Albus looking close to tears.

"It's just…You're… You're important to me, Scorpius. You're my best friend. That's why it's got the yellow rose on it. Apparently, it means friendship, at least I think it does. You're the only one who keeps me going and I didn't stay in the compartment for your sweets. I-I stayed for you."

Albus looked Scorpius right in the eye and Scorpius felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude as Albus's bright green eyes looked at him with affection, but they were also littered with hints of fear, sadness and exhaustion.

"Thank you," Scorpius said sincerely. He had never, to this day, forgotten the effect that those words had on Albus; his entire body seemed to inflate and his eyes, previously full of fear and misery seemed to fill with happiness and hope. He also smiled for the first time in days.

Scorpius's Mum always encouraged him to be polite and say thank you when he was younger.

"_The best thing you can say to anyone, is thank you," She had said. "Manners go a long way and brighten up people's lives. That thank you could turn someone's bad day into a good one."_

"It's a kind thought," Scorpius continued, snapping out of his memory. "I've never had a Valentines Card before. It's really nice of you."

"I'm really going to miss you," Albus smiled. Scorpius noted the sadness in his brilliant green eyes and frowned.

"Miss me?" Scorpius repeated. "What do you mean miss me? Are you going somewhere?"

"I'm going to be thrown out, Scorpius," Albus said sadly.

"Thrown out?" Scorpius frowned feeling confused. "Why? You haven't done anything! Have you? I'm sure you haven't. You're not as mischievous as your Brother or your Cousins and all of your homework has been handed in on time so you haven't been spending your time in Detention. They'd have to have a reason to throw you out and I can't see how you'd be thrown out. That would be rather unfair and I don't see them throwing out Harry Potter's son."

"The exams are coming up, and I'm going to fail them," Albus said solemnly. "James told me that you need to pass all your exams to get into the Second Year. I'm terrible at magic, Scorpius. I won't make it to the Second Year and I wanted to give you something to remember me by."

Albus looked so miserable as he put his knees up and rested his chin on them, that Scorpius was really tempted to hug him. But he wasn't sure that they hugged and he didn't want to scare him off. Instead, he placed a hand tentatively on Albus's shoulder.

"You're not going to fail, you silly billy," He said seriously. "No way, José. Not if _I _have anything to say about it. You shouldn't listen to anything Karl Jenkins and Polly Chapman say about you and you're good when you think no one's looking. I've been watching you. Believe in yourself, Albus like I believe in you and you'll surprise yourself and if you're worried about failing the exams, I can help you study for them. Once I'm finished with you, you'll be a lean, green, exam passing machine or something like that."

Albus grinned and his eyes sparkled hopefully, and he raised his head off his chin, looking happier.

"You're…You're going to help me?" He asked.

"Of course," Scorpius smiled. "That's what best friends are for. We can be study buddies and we could start revising tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Yeah," Albus nodded. "That'll be fine. Thank you! The exams have been worrying me for quite a while now."

"Don't worry, you'll pass with flying colours. _I'll_ make sure of that." Scorpius said, as an idea suddenly came to him. "Albus, my Mum sent me some chocolates to share with any girls that I like. Since most girls would rather hex me than talk to me and since you're the only person who sent me a card, would you like to share them with me?"

Albus's face split into the widest grin that Scorpius had ever seen.

"Yeah!" He said enthusiastically, jumping up from his bed. "But just to be clear, we're doing this as friends, right and not as Valentines?"

"Best Friends," Scorpius said happily. "Friendly Valentines, platonic partners. I couldn't eat all of those chocolates on my own. I'd be sick. Besides, it's even more fun to share your sweets with someone else."

Albus laughed and Scorpius placed his card on his bedside table, taking extra care not to crumple it.

Scorpius opened his trunk, and took out a heavy box. He placed it on his bed as Albus moved over to Scorpius's bed. Both of them spent the rest of the evening talking, laughing and eating chocolates and Scorpius was really thankful of having such a great friend.

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Thank you for reading.


End file.
